Notes: Over the past years, Christoph Lingg has been creating black and white portraits of the Indigenous People in the broadly defined geo-region of Asia, including Pakistan, Indonesia, Mongolia, Siberia, Myanmar, India and China. This is not an attempt to be fully inclusive investigation of the cultures of Kalasha, Dani, Buriad, Nenets, Palaung, Apatani, Yao and Hani to name a few that are featured in his book.

His subjects are frequently backed with a simple white cloth and I am reminded of the earlier on-location portraits of Irving Penn. It is a technique to isolate the subject from their environment and which focuses the viewers on the individual captured in front of the lens. Interspersed are environmental portraits in which his subjects are situated in their local cultural elements to provide more context about their living conditions.

Frequently the viewer is met by a weary gaze at or a slightly off-lens look that is telling about the economic and political conditions that could be considered characteristic of Indigenous people, a cultural sub-group within a larger population. Lingg may have only been among his subjects for a short time and due to language and custom barriers, probably not sufficient time to establish or develop a really deep and open relationship. Nevertheless the portraits are powerful and well presented in this hardcover book, although the decision to print on a warm matte paper creates a lower contrast image lacking deep blacks.

Christoph Lingg’s photobook, Shut Down, was previously featured on The PhotoBook.